Cold Weather Blamed For 5 Md. Deaths This Year
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Winter has not yet officially started but five people in Maryland have already died due to the cold weather. Now, with temperatures expected to take another plunge this weekend, health officials are trying to prevent that number from going up.
Meghan McCorkell has more.
Fifteen people died from cold weather all of last winter. This year, we've seen five deaths in just a one month period.
The wind whips as temperatures dip in Maryland. The official start of winter is just days away but the dangers have already started.
"We want people to understand; we take it very seriously," said Dr. Clifford Mitchell, Maryland Department of Health.
Five Marylanders have already died this winter due to exposure to the cold. Those deaths were reported from mid-November to mid-December in Frederick, Anne Arundel, Wicomico, Prince George's and Carroll counties. The victims range from a man between the ages of 18 to 44 to a woman over the age of 65.
Mitchell says Maryland's cold weather plan has been activated to try and prevent any more deaths.
"We notify local governments. They, in turn, have active outreach programs to people who are homeless, people who are at risk," he said.
Emergency room doctors across the region say they are already seeing cases of cold weather exposure come in.
"We've seen cases of some patients that have been hypothermic and frostbite, as well," said Dr. Frederick Burke, Sinai Hospital.
Burke says it can be a race against the clock for patients who present with dangerous symptoms.
"Those that have a change in mental state, that are confused, fever chills. Their extremities have changed colors," Burke said.
That's why hospitals across the state are gearing up to quickly treat more cold weather cases.
Last winter, the bulk of the cold-related deaths in the state occurred in January.
Health officials say their other big concern as the temperatures fall is carbon monoxide poisoning as people search for alternate heat sources.
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